The Music Project
by Live to Daydream
Summary: The Vocaloids are the most humanoid robots in creation in the year 2314. They're rich and famous and happy. But when they're thrown into the mysterious world war that is being fought, they will suddenly have to struggle to even stay alive-with only some tiny organization that calls itself "The Music Project" to help them.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Vocaloid characters or songs. All I own is the plot.**

My eyes slid open just on time, like every day. I was greeted with the familiar white ceiling. Reaching out with my right hand, I pulled a lever to the side of my bed.

The wire plugged into my back-an unfortunate side effect of being a Vocaloid- unplugged itself. I wrapped it up and hooked it over the back of my bed then jumped up, stretching.

Today was a Sunday, June 7, year 2314. Time to party before the week started.

I walked to my mirror. My hair was a mess, but with the help of an assortment of brushes and hairsprays that wouldn't affect my inner robotic mechanisms I managed to get it into two teal pigtails. I put on a pair of denim capris and a cyan tank top with a black and white checker pattern faded in from the left side. Then I headed out the automatic door and into the hallway.

The lights seemed to be on in Luka's room just across the hall from me. I pressed my palm against the scanner that unlocked the door. We had all programmed them to identify multiple handprints, so not only the owner of a room could enter. Major trust was required. Sure enough, I found the pink haired Vocaloid standing at her full length mirror. She turned when I open the door.

"Miku-chan, what ever happened to knocking first?" she teased. I flushed upon noticing that her black shirt was only half buttoned.

"Sorry, I'll-"

"Oh, come on, Miku. I was teasing. We're all girls here," she added with a sly grin. This, minus the smile, would have been reassuring were it not for the fact that Luka tended to make it quite clear which gender she was attracted to.

"Thanks, Luka," I muttered, walking out of her room.

There were eight people in this house. These were Megurine Luka, Kagamine Rin and her twin Len, Kaito, Meiko, Megpoid Gumi, Kamui Gakupo, and myself, Hatsune Miku. It was a big house. We were known as Vocaloids, a very almost human being, created through the use of technology. We were capable of emotions, and had long since gotten used to the fact that we were programmed to act how we act. In some ways this is useful. Our Master, a human who died long ago, was a kind man who did his best to make everyone happy. Each of our personalities worked well with everyone else's, and we were all made to be self-confident. Thus, everyone was happy. It was so very easy, not like human lives. Those seemed to be far too luck of the draw.

Vocaloid started as a singing program. During our early years we recorded music and gave performances almost every day. That was less of a priority now. Recent advances in technology made music recording much easier. Our voices were recorded onto software with which music was made, and so we didn't have to sing to make music. Not to mention the current war over some advanced technology that was kept top secret made music less important. We still sang, of course, but there was much more free time than before.

I continued toward the twins' room. The Kagamines weren't quite twins, more like mirror images. They had very similar programming and voice generating. The only real difference was gender. And of course they were no more related than I was to Kaito. This made it perfectly fine that they were in love.

I scanned my hand and the door opened. Len was in bed, snoring, and Rin was laughing hysterically in a chair in the corner of the room. I giggled.

"Hi, Rin-chan. What's up?"

"What does it look like?" she said. "This guy needs to get less...noisy." She laughed.

The twins were very yellow. Short blond hair, yellow bedroom, yellow clothes. They looked very innocent, but if you asked any Vocaloid who was most likely to kill someone they'd all say Rin.

"Try to wake him up. Breakfast in a few."

I next checked Meiko's room, but it was empty. She was probably with Kaito, knowing her.

Gumi was already up and in the kitchen with Gakupo. The others joined us shortly after. We were completely capable of food consumption, though it wasn't exactly necessary. It tasted good.

After breakfast, I walked down to Luka's room. Rin was sitting with her on her pink couch. I plopped down between them. The TV was on.

"The war continues to destroy land," the reporter on screen said. Behind her was an over exaggerated wasteland of fallen buildings and dead trees. "People are dying at a remarkable pace. The opposing side is keeping their goals secret. We do not yet have any insight into their motives. More after the break."

The TV cut to commercials and Rin shut it off. I glanced at Luka. "What's she going on about?"

"I don't know," she said lazily. "Something involving guns...and dead people..."

"Whatever." Rin shut off the TV. "I'm gonna go read. You two do whatever."

"See ya." I waved. She shut the door behind her.

"How's it going?" Luka asked softly.

"Fine, I guess. This whole war thing is a little scary."

"Yeah."

It was only a few years ago that the war started. Nobody understood it. People tried to ignore it. But it was difficult, with all the deaths and cities destroyed and curfews and locked city walls. That was why we couldn't go on tour. Vocaloid was very much limited to Japan now. No one from outside here and a few other countries had laid eyes on one of us in years.

"What if one of us dies, Luka? Any of the eight of us?" _What if it's you?_

"We won't."

"How can we be sure?"

"We're stronger than humans, Miku. You know that. We're similar, but where they have bone we have metal. We are destructible, but either way not a single one of us would let another die. Maybe this is the one time we don't have to wish to be human."

"I don't wish I was human..." I looked down. "Maybe."

"Oh, come on." She smiled. "I know you do. We all do. We shouldn't, but we do." Her voice softened. "Sing."

I closed my eyes. "Mou yukiba ga nai wa kono koi no netsuryou...ah..."

"See? What human does that?" She pulled me into a hug. "Don't worry. Miku."

I smiled. "Thanks." I got up and walked for the door-one way glass that looked like a mirror from the outside-which slid open for me.

Gumi sat in the living room on blue couch, a video chat program open on her green laptop. She had it specially made so the logo on the back was not an apple but a carrot. Oh, Gumi.

"Who are you talking to?" I sat down next to her. "Sorry if I'm interrupting."

"Nah, it's fine!" she reassured me.

"Hi, Miku! Nice to see you!" the red haired girl on the screen was SF-A2 Miki, a Vocaloid who lived in a different city. We hadn't seen her or some of her other friends since the war, which was too bad. Gumi had always been especially friendly with her, and sometimes I wondered how much she liked her, but then again it seemed likely the green haired girl had a bit of a crush on Len. Miki had called one night saying she wouldn't be able to visit for quite a while, and that was that. We hadn't seen her since.

"Great to see you too!" I smiled at her.

"I was just telling Gumi that I just talked to Neru, and Haku. They miss you guys!"

"How's Teto and the other Utauloids doing? And Lily and little Yuki?" Gumi asked.

Utau was another company similar to Vocaloid. They were created by a different master, but other than friendly rivalries we had always considered ourselves equal, especially since the war started.

"Everyone's fine." Miki answered.

"Has anybody communicated with other countries? America? Korea? I know there are a few Vocaloids there as well." I asked.

"No, sorry. It's been hard."

"Don't worry. I miss you. I'm gonna go see if anyone's got something to do." I got up.

"Bye!" Gumi and Miki said in unison.

The day passed uneventfully. At dinner time we all sat in our usual spots. The table was a perfect circle of glass but the legs were various different colors. Jokes involving the Vocaloids of the Round Table got old the day we bought it. Plus we fought so badly over spots that Gumi came up with the cheesy idea of rainbow order. Meiko sat with Rin to her right, then Len, Gumi, myself, Kaito, Gakupo, and Luka between him and Meiko. When Kaito and I broke up he and Luka switched, a good deal for him because it put him next to Meiko, his current girlfriend.

"So, what's up with everyone?" Meiko asked.

"Same old," Rin said.

"I talked to Miki today!" Gumi said. It got quiet. She blushed. "I _don't like her. _Besides, I mean, it's really exciting because she says everyone in Japan is fine. We can't communicate well across country borders, though."

"Too bad. Did you ask Neru how her phone is doing?" Meiko asked.

Everyone laughed.

"Are they married yet?" I giggled. It was a running joke that Neru was in love with that phone.

"No, I didn't ask." Gumi grinned.

"Didn't Gakupo used to like Neru?" Kaito asked.

"Oh, Gakupo has liked everyone. And so have you, Kaito." Rin said.

"I seem to recall a time when you liked each other," Luka added.

"They kissed," Gumi commented matter-of-factly. "Right after Kaito broke up with you Miku. Maybe that's why he dumped ya!"

"Oh, please. We only dated for publicity. 'The most loved Vocaloid girl with the most loved Vocaloid boy.'" I answered, quoting what Master had said when he'd told us we should date.

"They did NOT kiss," Meiko said.

"We saw it, too," Rin grinned.

"Unfortunately," Len frowned. "It was horrible."

"It was hot!" his sister contradicted him.

"Fangirl."

Meiko stood up abruptly. "You kissed?!"

Luka laughed. "Get over it, Meiko."

The brown haired woman sat down, only after hitting Kaito with her napkin.

"Now you like Luka, don't ya?" Gumi reached across me and Luka to tap Gakupo teasingly.

"Oh, gross!" Luka scooted her chair away from Gakupo.

"Really, Luka, just because you're more interested in a certain someone to your left doesn't mean all guys are gross," Rin pouted.

"Just because you think all guys are hot doesn't mean-"

"Shut up, Len."

"I would know. I can see your thoughts, after all."

"Really, Len."

"Luka likes _who_?!" I shouted, a bit late.

"What?" Luka asked.

"You," Gumi, Rin, and Len said in unison.

"Who?" Kaito asked.

"WILL EVERYONE SHUT UP?!" Meiko screeched.

"No-" Gumi started, but I covered her mouth with my hand.

"I was thinking maybe we could do some karaoke and dance or something today after dinner. How does that sound?" I asked.

"Sure!" I was answered with seven different forms of "Yes."

"Alright. Meet me in the TV room when you're ready."

We ate fast, and everyone arrived in the room on time. I had my iPod plugged into the flat screen, playing karaoke through the TV.

Rin and Len sang Trick and Treat first, because of course they found it necessary to start the night with a creepy song. Next Luka and I performed Magnet. It was an interesting song choice, but Gumi practically made us sing it. She also threatened to stab us if we didn't dance. "Magnet" and "dance" and "Luka" equaled "BAD" in my mind. But I didn't really care to be stabbed.

We ended the song about a centimeter apart, her headpiece microphone practically touching my face, earning a round of applause from everyone in the room. Our faces were flushed from dancing and spinning, and she took my hand and we curtsied to the "audience."

Meiko had wanted to perform something, but being Meiko she was already drunk and making out with Kaito on the couch in the back before Luka and I were even done singing. Gumi sang Because, Because, Because, and Gakupo The Madness of Duke Venomania. Awkward song. But still, we all joined in on our lines. Except Meiko.

I was doing the infamously fast Two-Faced Lovers when suddenly the sound cut and the lights flickered out.

"Awwwww..." Rin whined. "Power outage? Really?"

I looked out the window. There were flashing lights in the night sky. Fighter planes.

"It's an air raid," I breathed. "Or someth-"

A bomb exploded somewhere nearby, rattling the ground.

"They must have gotten to the city's central power system, that's why the alarm didn't sound and the electricity cut," Gakupo said in a businesslike manner. "We need to go through with standard procedures. Shut the shades, get into the basement. I would give us about five minutes, maybe. Let's go!"

**Okay, so that's the first chapter. I have a few more written but I have to edit them. This is my personal least favorite chapter-it improves at least a little. R&R! Constructive criticism is appreciated if you know the line between that and flaming. I am sooo excited right now! :D First fanfiction that I'm posting!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I still don't own Vocaloid. I'm sorry my paragraphs aren't tabbed in; FF.N is still confusing/hard to work. It was tabbed in in my document… This chapter contains some cursing. Enjoy :)**

I ran for my room and shut the shades and windows, as well as in every room or hall I went through. I ran into-literally crashed into-the twins and Luka in the hall, and we ran downstairs together.

Once in the dark basement, I cleared my throat. "Head count! Meiko?"

"Here."

"Kaito!"

"Here!"

"Luka!"

"Here."

"Gumi!"

No answer.

"Luka, go find her. Hurry."

"Alright." Footsteps ran up the stairs.

"Rin."

"Here!"

"Len!"

"Here!"

"And Gakupo."

"Here."

"Okay. Just hang tight everyone," Kaito whispered.

Luka returned with Gumi after a painful two minutes. They sat on my right. I leaned against Luka, squeezing Gumi and Meiko's hands, the three closest to me. The latter pulled Kaito into our group, and he hooked arms with Len who clung to Rin. Gakupo laid a hand on my arm.

And we waited.

The lights flickered on after a while. I looked around as my eyes adjusted. Everyone was fine, just a bit shaken. Shortly later the usual Morse code message programmed to go to all the houses meaning "Safe" flashed. We stood and went upstairs.

"Hey, guys, how about-" Gumi's voice came from outside my room, cut off by a clatter and a short shriek.

"Gumi?" I ran out into the hallway. Her eyes were wide with fear. Clipping a silver cuff around her wrists was a tall man with blond hair dressed in black. As I tried to run to her and beat that guy up, a dark haired woman in similar clothes grabbed me. She jerked my hands behind my back and pressed a cold metal ring around them. To my horror I saw the man who had Gumi holding a device to her wrists so that the place where two metal edges met melted and was completely sealed over. It seemed nothing could cut through it.

I stayed quiet, hoping they'd think we were the only two, but shortly after hearing Gumi's scream Gakupo ran out of the living room. Upon seeing us he whipped out a pocket knife and tried to sneak up behind the man, but the woman who held me alerted her ally of his presence. He whirled and pointed something that looked like a laser pointer at Gakupo, who crumpled in a heap. A redhead handcuffed him.

"Is that all?" she asked.

"No," said the man. "There are eight. Find a pair of young blond twins, a pink haired woman, a blue haired man, and a brown haired woman. Go!"

Another man who stood beside him ran to a random door. The twins. He put his hand on the scanner, but a voice said "Access Denied" and he pulled his hand back quickly, cursing. Electric shock.

"No, idiot!" the guard who held Gumi shouted.

The man took out a laser and cut through the place where the door slid into the wall. It cut through and he pushed the door aside, emerging a moment later with handcuffed twins.

Luka was dragged out of her room next, not without resistance. She shrieked a stream of curses-unusual for her-and bit the guard's hand.

"OW!"

"Baby," the woman who was now holding me by my hair muttered. Luka was dragged over to us.

"You BITCH!" she shouted at the woman who was now holding both of us.

"Gag her," she commanded.

"Let us go." Luka stepped hard on the woman's foot.

"Somebody get me a cloth or something!" The guard jumped on one foot, and Luka slipped from her grip, running to me and trying to get my handcuffs off, as she hadn't been handcuffed yet.

"When you get out I'll get the twins and you get Gumi and Gakup-"

One of the men zapped her with the laser and she collapsed. They quickly handcuffed her.

"LUKA!"

The guard yanked my head back by my hair and gagged me.

We were taken through a broken window in the back of the hallway and into some kind of hovercraft. This must have been how they got in. We were each thrown in separate cells with what must have been bulletproof glass in between us. I was between Luka and Rin. Len, though fighting fiercely to be with his sister, was dragged far away down the hall. I saw Meiko get thrown in a cell across from me shortly after, and Kaito being led down the hallway. So they'd been caught, too.

Rin looked at me from across the glass. Her eyes were wide with terror. Suddenly, she fell to her knees, panting.

"RIN!" I heard Luka scream. She must have woken. I ran to the glass. No one had hurt her, so what could it have been?

"They hurt him," Rin mouthed, then fell over. Len. The thing about twins being able to feel each other's pain was only true if you were almost two parts of the same person, like they were.

Tears in my eyes, I walked toward Luka's cell, sitting next to the glass. "Is she okay?" she asked.

I shrugged. I felt like a baby, but the tears began to flow out of my eyes. I leaned against the glass, crying silently, shoulders shaking. Luka gave me a sad look, then leaned against the glass as well, silently comforting me.

They must have heard her scream earlier, because a female guard came and gagged her. I closed my eyes. Why had this happened? Had people gotten into the city? Maybe the Morse code "safe" signal had been our kidnappers trying to trick us, or maybe they had stayed in the city undetected. What did that mean? Were there more enemy aircrafts still in there? Our city was probably being destroyed, and everyone killed or captured. These were enemy soldiers for sure. That was clear. Why did they want us?

I had never felt so terrified in my whole life. I had never been this alone. Tears continued to pour from my eyes, and I began to hate that we were able to cry. I had never, ever, wanted to kill someone. Now, I wanted so badly to put a bullet through every last guard's head that it hurt. What was wrong with me?

I heard a slight tapping on the glass, and I looked up at Luka. Blue eyes met mine, then looked meaningfully over my shoulder. I turned and saw that Rin was awake. Tears were spilling out of her eyes, and she was shaking uncontrollably. I ran to her and kneeled by her glass, wishing I could hug her, bring Len to her, anything. But I couldn't.

I'm here for you, I thought at her. As if she could hear it. As if I could actually protect her. As if I was even there for her at all.

**Thank you very much for reading. Reviews? I would like to know what people think of this.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi! I'd like to thank Maroon Cross for being my first reviewer on any story ever. It makes me happy to have gotten a positive review. I've always seen fanfic writers obsessing over reviews and never realized how encouraging and often helpful it can be until now. Thank you :) Here's chapter three. It's much shorter than the others. Chapter spacing is just based on good ending points. Sorry if the lengths are really weird… Disclaimer: I still do not own Vocaloid.**

After what felt like years the red haired woman came to our cells one at a time and took us out. First she opened the door to Rin's enclosure. I jumped up and ran to the glass. The small girl's eyes widened.

"Help me..." she mouthed. My gag, which had fallen loose over the hours, finally slipped down around my neck. I coughed and slammed into the glass with my shoulder, panicking. I had promised her I'd be there for her. The farther she got from Len the weaker she was and the more she needed me.

"LET ME OUT!" I screamed.

Luka tapped the glass and gave me a look. I nodded, embarrassed. I wasn't doing any good. The more I acted like an idiot the farther Rin was slipping from our grasp.

The same woman returned next, and whoever had been across from Rin was led out. I saw a flash of purple hair. Gakupo.

I was next. The door slid open, and the woman walked in and grabbed me by the handcuffs. She dragged me down a ramp and into the sunlight. I looked around.

We were standing outside what looked like a large prison. A variety of vehicles were parked outside. The woman scanned her hand at the door, then took mine out of the handcuff and pressed it to a different scanner. A robotic voice stated,

"17 year old female of the artificial life form known as Vocaloid."

My hands were shoved back into the metal ring and she used my gag to blindfold me, then led me inside.  
It was terrifying, being blind. I was dragged this way and that, tripping constantly. It was dark and my arms and legs ached. I wanted so badly to go home.  
She eventually let go of me and shoved me forward. I fell blindly, until strong arms caught me and a metal door slammed shut. I heard about three locks click.

"Miku, it's me, Gakupo. I'm sorry you can't see. They put my arms in front of me, but I don't think I can get your blindfold off."

I nodded. "Where are we?"

"I don't know. Rin and I are both blindfolded. You're lucky I managed to catch you."

"At least we're together."

"Miku?" Rin asked from somewhere on the ground. "I feel sick."

"Yes, it's me. Don't worry, Len will be there soon."

Next Meiko came in. As soon as the door locked, she shouted,

"WOOHOO!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Gakupo asked.

"She forgot to put my handcuffs back on."

"That's amazing! Can you get our blindfolds off?" I asked.

"Yes!" She pulled the cloths off of our eyes. We were on a soft floor with metal walls all around us. It wasn't dirty and there was a restroom door in one wall. That was odd.

"And guess what else I have-"

Suddenly she shut up and put her hands behind her back as the door opened and Luka was thrown in. Meiko took off her blindfold.

"You were saying?" Gakupo asked.

Meiko wouldn't tell us what it was until everyone was inside and we didn't see a risk of someone coming. Then she held up a metal stick.

"What's that?" Len asked.

"The handcuff key!"

We gasped. She hurriedly unlocked everyone's wrists. I wiggled my hands to loosen them up then gave everyone a hug.

"Finally..." I breathed.

"So, what the hell are we doing now?" asked Gumi.

Before anyone could answer, the door opened and a tall man with brown hair stepped into the room. We all shoved our hands behind our backs quickly. He laughed. It wasn't a nice laugh.

"I was going to let you out of those things anyway. May I ask how you got out?" His accent wasn't Japanese, though he was speaking it.

We stayed silent. He walked around us in a circle, then tapped Meiko with his foot. "You, stand up."

She obeyed, acting like it was her choice. He pried her fingers open and took the key.

"Smart, you are," he murmured. "Very resourceful. Strong, too." he bent the fingers on her hand back and forth. "So human, these bones are...but so very not." he knocked on her arm with his fist. "Metal, aren't they?"

"Yeah. Comes in handy when you wanna punch someone."

"You're a fierce one." He laughed again, then put the key in his coat pocket. "You won't be needing this."

"Where are we?" Gakupo asked.

"That doesn't concern you. We're just going to run a few tests, that's all. You, with the cute little pigtails. Come with me."

"Don't take her," Kaito demanded.

"Oh, is this your boyfriend? Or no-perhaps not," he noted.

"Kaito, I can fend for myself," I said, standing. "Thanks, but I am completely over you."  
With that, not to mention a sense of terror, I followed the man out of the room.

**Sorry, I couldn't resist that ending XD How was it? Am I improving at all?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi! I still have a few chapters written, it's just a matter of editing them. Sigh. I don't own Vocaloid. The spacing might turn out weird in this one. I'm not sure. Microsoft Word hates me. Some cursing, because that tends to happen when bad stuff happens to people, and some torture. Don't freak out-torture terrifies and disgusts me. The types I wrote aren't gross, so it should be fine. If you're really **_**really **_**sensitive to that stuff you might want to skim it, but that's unlikely and if so you'll know when to start skimming. Don't worry. Just wanted to warn people in case. That's all :)**

I was led into an immaculate room with white walls, a white bed, and a white tile floor. It looked like a basic hospital room. Except for the creepy computers and metal devices redolent of a torture chamber. He had me sit down on the bed and wait.

A woman walked in in a few minutes. She seemed no nicer than the man. Her hair was pulled back and she wore a plain blue dress and white apron.

"What is your name?" she asked.

I hesitated. What should I do? I thought for a minute, then decided they'd probably force it out of me anyway. "Hatsune Miku."

"Age?"  
"Physically seventeen. Technically around 300."  
"Occupation?"  
"Singer/songwriter and I work in a grocery store part time. Since the war."  
"Partner?"  
"None." I blushed slightly.  
"What can you tell me about Vocaloid?"

I gulped. "We were created to sing. We are the most humanoid creation ever. Our bones are metal and our brains are powered electrically. We have to charge overnight at least once a week but preferably every day. We are harder to kill than humans, but not by much."

"Alright. Put this on and lie down." She handed me a white hospital gown which I quickly changed into and lay down.

She tapped my arm. "These bones are metal. Very interesting. It must be very lightweight. Stand on that scale over there."

I did so, and she marked my weight on some sort of graph.

"You're right near the line for seventeen year old human girls in weight," she muttered, almost to herself.

I then had to bend over as she looked at my spine, and she checked in my ears, eyes, and nose, marking things on her clipboard.

After having me lie down again, she lowered a device over my head and it got very dark. I didn't know what she was doing, she could be viewing my brain like an x-ray or reading my mind.

Finally the thing was lifted and I blinked in the light reflecting off all the whiteness. She jotted down a few notes, then took some kind of cartridge out of the machine.

"I'll be back shortly. We're going to have another doctor look at you." She left the room with her clipboard and cartridge.

Not too much later a man came into the room. He didn't look much nicer than the others.

"I'm going to compare your mental and emotional activities to those of a human," he told me. "First I'll just ask a few questions. Do you have a favorite color?"

"I like cool colors. Blues, greens, turquoise, purples."

"So you can have interests, or like things?"

"Yes."

"Do you fear death?"

"I know for me it has to be from unnatural causes, and I'm scared of being killed or injured. So I guess so."

"How would you describe your relationship with the other...Vocaloids?"

"Friends. I enjoy being around them, trust them, and I like them." Usually.

"Are you currently in any kind of romantic relationship with anyone?"

"No."

"Have you been?"

"Yes." I really hated these questions, but I did not want to die. Besides, there wasn't harm in saying that I'd liked someone before.

"Male or female?"

"Male." I felt my face get warm and looked down.

"What symptoms do you feel when you see someone you like?"

"Blushing, feeling happy, butterflies in my stomach. Anything humans would feel."

"Interesting. None of your answers would in the slightest suggest you were anything but human."

I nodded. I didn't like being evaluated like this. Something felt wrong, some kind of instinct was warning me to get away from these people, but I pushed it down. Being agreeable seemed to be my only chance of survival.

As he opened his mouth to ask another question, the woman returned with the cartridge. The brain scanning lady. Ugh. She had a huge grin on her face. It was not a happy grin. It was a mad scientist grin.

"This is absolutely fascinating! Her brain is so human, yet it's a machine. It can be picked apart layer by layer. Her memories and emotions are humanlike in themselves and in how she views them but they are stored like computer data, pages of writing and video clips that can actually be opened on the average computer. Why, I've saved some of her _thoughts_ as Word documents!"

I shuddered, looking down at my feet. So this was what I was, then. We were just toys for humans to mess with and experiment on. Many of their laws and rights didn't apply to us. If we died for science and greedy humans, would the world even care?

"That's very interesting. None of her answers to my questions would have even suggested that she wasn't human," the man answered. "Have some computer scientists and neurologists look at the files from that chip. We're going to run a few more...tests."

I hated the way he said tests. They put a pair of headphones on my ears. Two metal plates rested on the sides of my head.

"What's 349 times 957?" the man asked.

I thought for a minute, going through it in my head. "333,993"

They took the headphones off and put the metal plates that had been on my head on the back of some computer like device, then the woman clicked some things with the mouse.  
"It seems as if the part of her unconscious mind worked it out like a calculator, whereas humans would imagine writing it out on paper."

I enjoyed the fact that they were talking about this right in front of my face. Idiots. They must have thought I was stupid.

"What about a different question? Something that doesn't involve math or calculating?"  
They put the headphones back on. "What is the noun in the sentence 'where is the broom'?" the woman asked.

"The broom," I replied quickly. What did they think I was, five?

Again they plugged the plates into the computer. "She seems to have accessed from her memory the definition of a noun, and figured it out as any human would," the man said. "It's like the basic functions of the human mind were recreated as software and installed into her head. Since it is software, it's insanely easy to read on a computer. Do you think she can access the internet?"

"No," brain scanning lady answered. "I viewed all the installations when I checked that chip from the brain scan. They seem to be relevant to computer applications, but she doesn't have any web access or anything. Just human things turned robot."

"When are the scientists returning with the data from the chip?"

"I don't know, but I have it here. I can burn it to a second computer so we can look it over."

"Okay."

The woman sat at the computer and plugged in the chip. I couldn't see the screen, but I heard mouse clicks as they opened the…files. I felt sick even thinking that they were looking at everything that made me _me,_ everything I'd ever seen or done, every thought I'd ever had, everything that was installed into me and everything that I had created for myself.

"It might take a while to get through this…"

_300 years, woman. Takes a while._

"Let's look at her first memory." The man reached over and clicked on something.

"Who's he?" the woman asked.

"Their creator, perhaps," mused the man.

"Recent memories could be important, too." _Click._

"Just a lot of Vocaloids. Good God, she was stuck with that lot for so long…hmm, who's the pretty pink haired lady?" The man wondered.

_Smack._ "Focus."

"No, not like _that._ Look here." He clicked on something else.

"Oh. Hm."

"Come over here," the man called. I got up and walked over.

"Who is this?" He gestured to a picture. It was of Luka, in one of her rare huge smiles.

"Megurine Luka," I replied.

"One of your friends?"

"Yes."

"She's rather pretty, isn't she?"

I shrugged casually. "I guess." Was that even a legitimate question? She was gorgeous. I tried not to think about how it was because she was _made _like that.

"Alright."

The woman flicked through the memories. They seemed to be video clips. Of my whole life. Creepy to new extremes.

"Here's one." The man clicked the play button. _Serious _déjà vu. It was from my perspective. Exactly as everything had happened. Luka and I were in Luka's room. She was on her laptop on her bed.

"_The new song is called Magnet," I started a bit hesitantly._

"_What's it about?" she asked, looking up at me._

"_Weeeelll…" I replied._

Words flashed across the bottom of the screen. _Emotions identified: Nervousness, excitement, fear, love. _I blushed.

"_It's basically about two girls, and they're in love. But their parents think it's wrong and they're scared…it's got a pretty tune. Master says he wanted to try something new."_

_She smiled at me. "And I'm assuming we're the ones singing this?"_

"_Yeah," I answered. _

"_Okay. D'ya wanna practice it?"_

"_Sure." I handed her a page of sheet music and started with my part._

"_Wow, that's pretty," she said after we finished._

"_I know," I replied, smiling._

The woman paused the video and scrolled back to the page on which it had written my emotions. "What's this?"

She circled the word love with her mouse.

"Oh, please," I said, quickly coming up with a reply. "You can't possibly trust what a computer has to say."

"If that's so," answered the man, "how can we trust you?"

I fell silent.

"It would be best if you answered our questions directly. Unless you want…oh, I don't know. The things we could use against you now are endless. Understand, girl?" the man was acting a lot less nice now.

I nodded mutely.

"Sit down on the bed," he ordered. I did so, and handcuffs snapped up, pinning my wrists down. I gasped. He whispered something in the woman's ear, gesturing to the screen of the computer, then walked over to me.

"You can't really give us information unless you know what we're after, I suppose," he said, frowning. "Though you know how it is with computers…you can always just delete the memory." He smiled. "We think it's unfair that your country has such an advantage. Very few countries have such a realistic artificial life form. Imagine the possibilities. In a world where _things _like you are mass produced, no _real_ human would ever have to go to war again. If we could turn into you we would never die. But no. You're selfish. You hide in a mansion and sing love songs with your _girlfriends_ and act like your lives are actually important. And Japan just won't let their little treasure go."

"Is this what the war is about, then?" I asked. "You guys want yourselves some Vocaloids?" I'd meant it to be a somewhat sarcastic comment, but trailed off as the pieces fell into place. Korea, the U.S….all the countries allied with Japan had Vocaloids or similar people like us. And the others didn't. So this was what they wanted? They wanted to create war machines and have immortality. Classic move for such selfish beings.

"Smart. Yes, I guess it's out in the open now. Just answer my questions. Do you know how you were created?"

"I will not tell you anything." I replied.

"Tell us how you were created and you will be free to go…maybe. You and your friends will not be hurt."

"I can't give you that information."

"And nothing will make you change your mind?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

I didn't answer. From then on I would not speak to him.

"Hatsune Miku. You have two minutes to change your mind."

The two minutes passed slowly. My heart pounded in my chest. I was probably being very, very stupid, but I had told them enough already. I had promised Master, so many years ago, that I wouldn't let us get used for evil. He had told me that people might try to do bad things with me. Like turn me into a war machine, for example. He'd said I had to stay strong. And I, being a little kid, had agreed right away.

"Time's up," the man said. He pressed a button and a zap of pain came from the handcuffs. I bit my lip. "Tell us everything," he ordered.

"No," I gasped. He pressed the button again. It must have been some kind of electricity, using the one weakness of having metal bones against me. If it got through to my bones, and if one of my bones or another metal organ was connected to my heart or brain, I would die.

"I have no problem with killing you," he said matter-of-factly, and pressed the button again, holding it for longer. This time I screamed as it burned through my whole body.

"I have…no problem with…dying," I panted. "Just…try…to make me…tell you."

"Strong will, you have there. Are you that strong, or is it just something programmed into you by your '_Master?_'" he mocked. He pressed the button again. I screamed again, my body thrashing as waves of pain shot through me. How much electricity would it take to kill me? This was certainly the most that was possible without causing death. A few volts short of an electric chair.

"I will not tell you. And you know you won't kill me."

"Really?" _Zap. _"I get eight chances, you know. Though I'd prefer to get it out of you." He nodded to the woman, who was still at the computer, and she stood and walked out.

"Well, you're not going to."

He pressed and held the button. I shrieked. I wanted so badly to die right then. Just a bit more electricity. _Please._ When he finally let go, I was gasping for air and still twitching, tears pouring from my eyes. It still hurt, even when he let go. I coughed. My throat was sore. I realized my hair was sticking up.

"Tell us. It does you no good to stay quiet, but it does you no harm to tell us," he whispered in my ear. My vision was blurring, and everything was swimming in and out of focus. The world was spinning and starting to go black when I felt a sharp nudge in my side.

"Up, girl."

I groaned, unable to stay conscious, then something sharp pricked my arm. I assumed it was some kind of shot to start me working again and wake me up. Just lucky that it was something that worked on humans and humanoids, I assumed. Either way, I still felt miserable and was ready to ignore him when I heard something from the hall.

"Okay, get in there." It was brain scanning lady. How fun.

A familiar voice answered, first calmly then panicked. "Alright, but why…WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!"

I sat up as if a cannon had gone off in my room, managing to bang my head on the headboard. I blinked and my vision returned. The brain scanning evil _bitch _held Luka's arms, restraining her, while the man who had electrocuted me stood by my bed.

"She wouldn't tell us anything."

"That's no excuse…" she answered. She tried to walk toward me but the woman restrained her. "Let go," she said calmly, and for some reason she did. Luka walked toward me. "What did they do to you?"

"They electrocuted me, that's what." I answered. She sat on the side of my bed and hugged me tightly. I buried my face in her shoulder, the tears I'd held back coming out finally.

"Alright, that's enough." The man grabbed Luka's shirt and dragged her away from me. He pulled her over to the wall across from me where chains shot out and bound her to the wall.

"We told you to tell us, Miku. Let's see what you decide to do now."

The man put a metal band around Luka's head and pressed a button on the side of it. She gasped.

"What are you doing?!" I struggled against the handcuffs. "Stop it!"

"The band attacks her nervous system," the woman said. "It makes her think that she's being hurt. Really, we're not even touching her."

"What did she ever do to you?!"

"Nothing. If you tell us how to make a new Vocaloid..." the man said, grinning. "We'll let the pretty girl go."

He turned a dial on the metal band, and Luka screamed.

"FINE!" I shouted. "I'll tell you! We-"

"Don't..." Luka gasped. "Don't tell him..."

"But-"

"Miku-chan...Look at me." she clenched her teeth to keep from screaming. "You can't...risk everyone...f-for me. They can't find out. And wh-what's one useless robot...when the world...is at stake?"

"You're not useless!" Tears sprang to my eyes again.

"Don't cry-ow!" She screamed again as he turned up the knob.

"Luka!" I struggled against the restraints harder, wishing I could rip through them, and knowing it was useless. "I'm really really sorry. This is my fault! Please let me tell them, I can't see this! If you die I...I'll kill myself. Well maybe not but don't die, please! I can't-"

"Shut up." she muttered through gritted teeth. "I might...pass out...but even if I die..." her knees buckled. "Shit. Miku I l-" her eyes rolled back and she slumped to the ground.

The man took off the torture device. "Aww, wasn't that sweet."

"SHUT UP! Undo my handcuffs or I swear to God I will kill every last one of your allies!"

"No harm in it, I guess...But you have to tell us everything you know afterward if I do it."

"Fine."

The handcuffs clicked open and I flew off the bed and kneeled in front of Luka. I heard her ragged breathing and sighed in relief. Alive.

"How unfortunate, the pretty one's alive. Would've been such a romantic death, too."

I ignored him, and wrapped my arms around Luka. "Wake up...oh, please please please..."

After a minute or so she stirred. I pulled away as her eyes opened.

"Mi...ku?"

"Luka!" I threw my arms around her again. She tensed, startled, then hugged me back. Her handcuffs had been undone when mine were.

"I'm okay..." she assured me. "I'm okay."

"Alright, alright, get up." the man tapped us with his boot. "That's very sweet and all, but we still have to do something about that information you promised us."

"Oh, I'm afraid you won't be getting that," said a voice from the window. Gumi had her head stuck through the window and was grinning at us. "Cuz we are out of here."

Luka and I stumbled to the window, where Gumi, in one of her stupider moments, yanked us both out head first. We quickly learned, after landing on the ground top of everybody, that she had been standing on Gakupo's shoulders, had lost her balance and...splat.

"We should probably run," Kaito said, and with that we all scrambled to our feet and got the hell out of there.

There was a forest on the edge of the parking lot, and once we got in we were able to slow down. Gakupo had to carry Luka, being the only one able to. He seemed quite happy with that. I had recovered enough that I just had to lean on Meiko and Kaito's shoulders.

"So, what are we gonna do?" Len asked.

"Steal a hovercraft!" Rin answered. "Obviously."

Gakupo looked around at everyone. "It might be our best hope-"

Suddenly we saw bright lights as a truck drove up to us. Several men and women ran out and dragged us inside, and we were left sitting in the back of the truck.

"We did NOT just get caught again," Meiko said, rolling her eyes.

No one answered.

**How was that? Where are they now? What is going to happen? Was that at all realistic? How were her emotional reactions to everything, i.e. being read like a book and seeing her best friend's torture? Sometimes I'm not sure how well I portray emotion. Review :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi! This is the fifth chapter I'm posting in a very short time, and I have about 7 or 8 fully written, but I hate to tell you I'm having a bit of writers block on the chapter I'm currently writing, plus my pre-written ones are a pain to edit. Posting might slow down (I've posted the first few within a couple hours XD), but it's just because I have to work on ideas for continuing as well as edit. If after chapter 7 or 8 posting stops for a while it's because now I'm actually **_**writing**_** chapters before posting them.**

After twenty minutes or so the truck stopped. The doors opened and a nineteen-ish year old girl walked in. "Hey guys, sorry 'bout that. It might seem like we captured you, we had to be quick about it. Really we're just trying to get y'all back home."

"...Are you sure about that?" Kaito asked dubiously.

She laughed. "Pretty sure."

"Okay," I responded. "Where are we now?"

"Well, come outside and see!"

The eight of us stumbled out of the truck and into the light of day.

We stood in front of a tiny house in a suburban area. Not very exciting. The girl laughed. "Come inside!"

Inside was another world. Stairs led downstairs, into a huge multiple story basement. It had the feel of being almost bigger on the inside. People rushed around back and forth, scanning their hands to get into rooms, typing on portable devices, etcetera.

"Welcome," the girl said, "to The Music Project!"

It was quiet.

"And that would be...?" Gumi asked.

"Bit less dramatic than I'd hoped. Whatever." The girl laughed. "Basically, we're an organization dedicated to protecting you guys. I think you know by now that the war is because everyone wants Vocaloids for themselves. A few Vocaloids and their friends got together this whole group to keep from being taken and cloned or whatever, and to protect everyone else. We don't think Japan owns you, we think you just live there."

"So, basically, you're fighting secretly for Japan?"

"Well...not really. There are other rumors too, that since there have been so many deaths they might decide to use you as soldiers. Put the very thing they're trying to protect on the front line, because they think it's their only chance. Which is exactly what the other side wants to do with you. They're fighting over who owns you. We're fighting for your rights."

"Um, wow. Thanks," Luka said.

"You were saying some Vocaloids started this, right? Who would they be?" I asked.

"And who are you?" Gakupo added.

"Ah. Always forget that little detail. My name's Kylie. No, I'm not Japanese. I'm American, and Irish, and Scottish, hence the red hair, and I'm starting to think you don't care that much, but whatever. I speak a lot of languages."

"And the Vocaloids?" I prompted.

"Ah, yes." She spoke into her walkie talkie wristband. "Can someone call all Vocaloids in the house to the front entryway?"

She turned to us. "Should be just a minute."

Moments later four girls I recognized very, very well were standing in front of us in the hallway. Yowane Haku, Akita Neru, Miki, and Lily.

"OH MY GOD!" As soon as we saw each other everybody started hugging randomly until we'd all greeted everyone who we hadn't seen in so long.

"How come you didn't tell us about this over chat?" Gumi asked.

"We couldn't. Top secret information, not to be disclosed under less than completely secure circumstances," Lily answered.

"Are you saying our phones are tapped?" I asked.

"Maybe," Haku answered.

"Last time I talk about boys on the phone..." Meiko muttered.

"Either way, you're here now. Do you eight wanna go get clean and change clothes and meet us downstairs to explain everything?"

"Sure," Rin answered.

Kylie left us with Neru, Haku, Lily, and Miki to go "do work and crap like that," as she put it, downstairs. We were led upstairs to a hall with multiple doors off the sides.

"These are the bedrooms. Most people share with another person. Neru and I stay together and Miki stays with Lily and Yuki," Haku explained.

"Yuki's here?" I asked, surprised. She was a bit young for this sort of agency work.

Miki laughed. "She's playing in her room right now. She really just stays here. She helps with little things sometimes. It's very safe. No one knows this place exists."

"So almost every Vocaloid is here."

"Yep. You eight are probably the last to even know about the organization."

"So, are there bathrooms where we can wash up or something?" Luka asked.

"You guys might need that. Miku, your hair is kind of...sticking up..." Neru commented.

"She got electrocuted, okay?" Rin said.

"Ouch." Miki grimaced. "How about you? You look a bit off..." she said to Luka.

"I'd rather not think about that. All of it." The pink haired girl snapped a bit uncharacteristically.

"Oh my God...only you two?" Haku asked.

"Yeah," I answered, shuddering.

"Why?"

"I don't know." Welllllll...that was pushing things. I sort of knew. But that wasn't the point.

"Okay. Bathrooms are here, and we'll try to sort out clothes for you. For now there are towels in there," Haku told us, gesturing to two doors. "You'll have to take turns."

"WE CALL FIRST!" Rin screamed, holding her and Len's hand up in the air.

"You...shower together?" Neru asked.

"Yeah!" Rin exclaimed. Poor Len looked like he wanted to die.

"But..." Lily mumbled.

"Don't question it..." Meiko said.

"Nope..." I agreed.

Rin dragged her brother into the bathroom nearby and slammed the door. We all looked at it for a moment, standing there awkwardly, until Kaito cleared his throat.

"Let Luka or Miku go in the other one. They're all injured and stuff." Kaito wasn't very smart. Or eloquent.

"You can go," I told Luka.

"Nah, your hair is worse. You go."

"Everyone's picking on the hair. You can go. I don't mind waiting at all."

"It's okay, you-"

"Oh, my God!" Gumi crossed her arms impatiently. "Shut up before I shut you both in there."

It didn't take a genius to know EXACTLY what she meant by that. Kaito was probably the only one who didn't quietly giggle or snicker or do something else that made me want to crawl in a hole.

Luka hurriedly ran into the bathroom and shut the door.

When we girls were done showering we stayed in one room, the guys in another. Of course, that arrangement served no purpose for us Vocaloids, since Rin and Len were practically crying from being two rooms apart and apparently no girl trusted Luka. I did. Gumi said I was stupid. I said she was annoying. By the time Haku brought everyone an assortment of clothes my hand ached from holding my towel in place and my eyes hurt from having a staring contest with Gumi.

We changed in random people's rooms who Neru said wouldn't care. I had found a pair of shorts, a black tee, knee socks, and military style boots that fit. All the clothes were very convenient for moving in and I could see how they were what they had at a secret agency. Everyone was dressed somewhat similarly when they came out.

"Okay. I'm gonna need three volunteers to help with Miku's hair," Rin laughed.

"Really, cut it out guys!" I smiled. "Though help brushing it would be great."

Meiko ended up helping me get the knots out of my hair, since hers was so short she barely had to brush it. Most of the others were busy doing their own long, luscious, girly hair. Gakupo, for example.

Once I had a respectable braid down my back with no frizz sticking out, the twelve of us headed down to where we planned to meet with Kylie, Lily leading us. The house seemed bigger every second, though I supposed if it was underground it could be really big. We passed many people in dark military style clothing who glanced at us wide eyed as we walked by. By the time we got down to where Kylie was waiting I'd heard "Hatsune Miku?!" almost as many times as I used to when I stepped into town for two seconds.

The room we ended up in had a TV screen and a bunch of chairs and couches. I sat with Neru and Gakupo on a couch. Kylie stood by the TV and turned it on. She was proudly wielding one of those sticks with the pointing hand on it that teachers use in preschool classrooms to point things out. I think she felt very important.

First a map of Japan popped up.

"This is good ol' Japan-"

At this point Kaito raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"Why do you talk in Japanese with a Scottish accent but odd southern American tones?" he asked.

"So _anyway_, this is Japan," she continued as if nothing had happened. "We are here." she pointed to a spot on the map. "Just thought you might want to know." She then clicked a remote and a new slide popped up. This one showed the whole world. Some countries were red and some were blue.

"The red is people who don't have access to Vocaloid technology and want it. The blue is people who have it and want to keep it. And the purple," she tapped to a tiny spot I hadn't even seen, "Is us and our allies. Pathetically small."

"To be fair, it's actually bigger because this building is built down rather than out so you can't see all of it," Miki said.

"That's called wishful thinking," Kylie grinned. "So, basically, we wake up at 7 every day and eat, then get to work communicating with agents on missions, organizing plans, evaluating enemy codes, etc. Our previous goal was basically to get y'all out of there and bring you here, which we have accomplished."

"So, what are you doing now?" Meiko asked.

"Not getting caught. Protecting you. Discovering plans. Thinking of what to do to end this war, because if we get our way nobody's gonna win."

"Okay," Gumi nodded.

"So, now we have another question fer y'all," Lily mocked, ignoring Kylie's glare. "Do you want to join us?"

"Yes."

"Sure!"

"Why not?"

"Wake up at 7?! Ew. I guess..."

"Duh!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Okay."

"Eight yeses! Great," Haku exclaimed. "You're going to need rooms. Miki, would you mind getting that set up?"

"No problem."

We followed Miki up to the hall with the bedrooms. We were led around to the very end of the hall where she said some rooms were open.

"We've got four. Two and two and two and two. Choose reasonably."

We decided on Rin with Len, Kaito with Gakupo, Meiko with Luka, and me with Gumi.

We walked in. There were two twin beds per room, a closet, and doors connecting rooms.

I was probably not the happiest about this arrangement, after Gumi being slightly rude earlier and our little argument, but it was decent. We all met in Luka and Meiko's room after getting oriented and sat down to just be lazy for once in what felt like forever. I sat between Luka and Rin on one of the beds, surrounded by pillows. I _so_ appreciated pillows...

"You guys have...chargers, right?" I asked, referring to the fact that we had to plug into an outlet at least once a week.

"Yeah, probably some extras," Haku answered. "You look tired."

I yawned. "Yeah..." I shrunk down so I was more lying than sitting and leaned back in the pillows. I laughed when I noticed Len sleeping on the floor, then my eyes closed and I fell asleep.

**I have a very clear head picture of Len passed out on the floor. Oh, Len. How was that? They haven't been kidnapped after all! Something about the whole story up until now has me a bit unsatisfied, like some things are weirdly timed or something. I don't even know. Reviews? There are going to be a lot of side characters in the secret organization from all different countries, so if anyone wants to create a mini character with a country of origin and a name and general personality that'd be nice. I can't promise when or even if I'll use any of them. Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**And here we have some fluffy silliness because I can't resist these things. I don't own Vocaloid, only plots and OCs. Enjoy!**

"I'll admit that's kind of adorable."

Gumi's voice woke me up. I wasn't sure what she was talking about, and though I was curious I was more interested in sleeping. I curled up in a ball and snuggled into the pillows, then felt some un-pillowlike substance. It felt like hair. Then something beside me moved.

"Mmphh...Miku, your hair is in my-"

My eyes snapped open.

"-face..." Luka finished. It didn't take long for me to figure out what had happened. Especially not when the last thing I remembered was falling asleep between Rin and Luka. The latter was now lying next to me. She must have fallen asleep as well. It took me another moment to realize that her arm was around my waist, our faces were about an inch apart, and we'd been like that for who knows how long.

"Ohmygod Luka I'm so sorry I don't know why I..." I flew off the bed and onto the floor, managing to trip over someone's blanket that was lying there. I ended up on my back staring at the ceiling, blushing, and hearing Gumi's hysterical fangirl giggling in my ears. I groaned and lay my arm over my face. _Kill me now..._

"What time is it?" I ended up asking, lacking the willpower to stand up.

"4:30," Haku replied. "All you guys who passed out might have a hard time sleeping tonight..."

"Okay," I muttered into my arm.

"Miku, you were tired. No big deal. Nobody cares except you," Rin said reassuringly. "Right, Gumi?"

"Ow, don't poke me, Rin!" Gumi whined.

Rin cleared her throat.

"Right, nobody cares!" Gumi said, a bit too brightly.

"They're right, Miku. Honestly," said a voice I wasn't really in the mood to listen to at the moment.

"Just because _you _have no sense of embarrassment..." I mumbled.

"Alright, if you're all quite finished..." Gakupo said, smirking. "Kaito, shut your mouth and stop drooling. It's unattractive. Let's go."

"Freak." Meiko smacked her boyfriend in the arm, hard. "Stop fanboying. There is a difference between 'yuri' and 'our friends.' Not to mention _you like me._"

"Yes'm," Kaito responded.

I sighed and stood up.

"Good progress!" Haku said, smiling." Now. Are you all here?"

"Don't you mean 'y'all'?" Neru smirked from behind her.

"We don't mock friends," the silver haired girl scolded her. "Anyway, Neru and I were sent up here to get you guys. Miki went downstairs after you fell asleep. She, Lily, Kylie, and some others...we have to introduce you to so many people...are getting the computers set up to recognize you. We'll need to get handprint scannings and put your names into the list of members, as well as some other technical stuff...then I think you're off to training.

"Ninja training?" Kaito asked excitedly.

"Weapons training, technology training, combat training, spy training, brain training..." Neru listed.

"'Brain training?'" I asked.

"School," she explained, nose wrinkled in obvious disgust.

"It's really not," Haku laughed. You'll see. Come on, we don't have much time. Tomorrow is when we're really going to get things done."

We followed them downstairs and to a room with a huge computer screen on the wall as well as several smaller computers, where Kylie, Lily, and Miki were waiting.

"There you are. What took you so long?"

"Her," Gumi said gleefully, pointing at me.

"Shut up," I muttered.

"Wow, Miku-chan. What happened? In all the years I've known you I don't think you've ever said that," Miki said.

"She's been crabby ever since she woke up from her little nap. Probably tired," Kaito explained.

"One might say she woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Gumi said, grinning.

"Oh, thanks."

"You're welcome, Miku."

Kylie looked at us questioningly, then quite intelligently decided not to ask. "Right then. We're going to have to get photos of all of you. Step in here one at a time."

One by one we stepped into a metal cylinder, for lack of a better word, and a strange blue light scanned us up and down. How did they have all of this crazy machinery?

"Here we are. We're going to put together your profiles. Miku first." Kylie brought up a page with various boxes and lines and categories with spots to fill in info. In the big box on the left side she inserted a 3-D image of me. It was spinning in a slow circle. That must have been what the strange cylinder camera device did when it scanned me. She filled in name, gender, age, height, weight, id number (some strange number and letter combination that she said I'd have to memorize: H315M01), etc. Then I had to press my hand to the box on the screen where it said "Handprint" and it left an image of it there. Kylie double tapped on the handprint and selected "set for all doors."

"You can go anywhere now," she told me.

She set up everyone else's profiles, then put them on her flash drive to put it on any older computers that weren't connected by the single network. Apparently the profiles would help us access various places and be recognized by all computers in the building. The codes were for doors with multiple locks. Anything we couldn't open with either an ID code or a hand scan we were not allowed to open. Like other people's rooms, for example. Those had keys. We'd gotten ours when Miki showed us our rooms.

"So, what do we do now?" Len asked.

"Dinner is at 6:30. Don't be late if ya'll want food-"

"I'm hungryyy~" Meiko whined.

"...You have a while to go around and get to know people. That's what I would do if I were you." Kylie re-tied her ginger ponytail and headed out the door with her flash drive.

"Gumi, wanna come with us? We're gonna go run around and scare people!" Rin announced.

"Sure!"

The twins and Gumi ran off in some random direction.

"Let's look at weapons," Gakupo said to Kaito.

"Sure," he responded.

"Oh, so just leave your girlfriend, won't you!" Meiko shouted after them. She turned to Luka and me. "Fine. I'll just be leaving you two alone, then," she said rather obviously, turning the corner to follow the guys. She stopped and looked back. "For the record, I'd rather hang out with you two. It was-"

"Gumi's idea, I know," I sighed. "Have fun at weapons..."

The brunette left, and I glanced at Luka.

"So."

"What do you want to do?" she asked.

"Let's go meet people, I guess.

"Sure."

We headed down a random hall. There was a room on the right, which we entered. Here we saw five Japanese teenagers sitting around a table, talking and laughing. They stopped when we walked in.

"Hello," I said, smiling. "We're a bit new here, and we wanted to meet some people."

"Hi! I'm Chou, that's Arisu, she's Kaede, he's Takumi and he's Hikaru."

"Nice to meet you," I smiled.

"So you eight are joining us?" Kaede asked.

"Yes," Luka replied.

"That's good. We can always use more people," Hikaru said.

"This sounds like a stupid question, but are you actually dating Kaito? That's what Arisu seems to think."

"Takumi!" Chou hissed. "Really."

I laughed. "It's fine, really! No, he's with Meiko now."

"So you're single?"

"TAKUMI!" Chou sighed. "Excuse my _boyfriend_... He can be a bit rude."

"Reminds me a bit of Kaito, actually," Luka said quietly.

"Nice talking to you, but we want to go meet more people," I told them.

"Bye!"

Next we visited a room with a few adults looking at something on a computer.

"Hi!" I greeted them. "Don't wanna disrupt, we just came by to say hi."

"It's fine. I'm glad you're joining our little movement here," a blond woman said.

"See you around!" I smiled and we left.

Next was another group of teens. These were a bit more obnoxious than the others. A girl named Hana had to calm all the others down when they got into some fight over who I should be in love with. Luka was the popular belief among the guys, and we were eager to get out of there.

We ran into Gumi and the twins in the hallway. All three were laughing hysterically, and seemed to not even notice that we were there.

"It would seem they literally meant they were going to scare people," Luka said in an amused tone. I laughed.

"Maybe we should have them scare those teenagers."

Luka stopped walking for a moment. I looked at her questioningly.

"Does it really bother you that much?" she asked quietly. She was in one of her un-Luka-like phases, which I'll admit sometimes scared me.

"Does what bother me?"

"People thinking we're...together. Gumi. Well, she bothers me too. Being anywhere near me-it seems to scare you. Things like that."

"I-" I stopped. Did it bother me? Yes. Why? No answer. "I'm sorry it bothers you that I...act bothered." I smiled.

"Yeah, but you can't just do that, Miku. Smile and be the famous, pop diva, happy girl who's really _not you _and assume that everything will be just fine. I just want a completely honest answer. Why are you scared?"

She hadn't said "do I bother you," like last time. She knew I was scared. I knew I was scared. Neither was sure what of, and neither was sure why. I sighed. I really had nothing to tell her.

"I know about as well as you do," I said finally. "Come on, it's almost time for dinner."

**Why is Miku so confused? Oh dear! :3 How was that? Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I don't own Vocaloid. I think this chapter will make some people happy. I loved writing it. **

At dinner there was spaghetti with tomato sauce and bread and salad. The food was better than I would've expected. We talked a bit, but we were pretty hungry and were mostly busy eating. After making the decision to eat like humans, we had gotten kind of...stuck like that, and ever since we get hungry. It's an annoying feeling but food can, in extreme cases, replace being plugged in for a short time. This meant now we were starving and tired even with the nap we'd had, and needed to...charge, for lack of a better word.

We managed to find eight cords and various plugs to put on them that fit, and although they were rather short we all found ways to sleep. Well, sort of. The cord wasnt the problem, for me. I heard Gumi snore after less than a minute, but I lay staring at the wall. The white paint wasn't very interesting, and soon enough I was completely enveloped in my thoughts. I might as well have been asleep, except, of course, for all the things I couldn't stop thinking about.

I was glad we had agreed to become part of this music project. I didn't want anyone I cared about to become a war machine, for either side. I didn't want to be owned by a country. Kylie and many of the others also treated us as people rather than celebrities or robots. Even the obnoxious ones hadn't freaked out or idolized us or anything. On the other hand, however, we were still learning how to fight and work, even if this was just in case of emergency and for self-defense. I wanted to be home, before the war, where it was safe. Maybe I was being selfish. Maybe I was made for the life of a celebrity and nothing else. Then again, was it myself who I wanted to be safe at home, or was it the others? Rin and Len and Yuki shouldn't have to ever learn how to fight. It was just unfair, that our own country was part of why we had to resort to this.

I rolled over. It was what was best, and that was that.

There were other things, too. Problems buzzing in my head that couldn't be fixed just by knowing what was best. Who had captured us back then? I hoped we'd be able to figure that out. Maybe Kylie or one of the others already knew. It could have been a government organization or an unofficial group of people who wanted us to help them. Criminals. Terrorists. Spies. Anything. Did they know where we were? Would they come back for us? Who would be hurt this time? The twins, maybe? Anybody. Anyone could be electrocuted or tortured or experimented on or killed or forced to watch the torture of someone who they-

I realized my nails were digging into my palms, and I was bleeding a bit. I sighed. Yeah, there was that little issue too. Luka.

What the hell was wrong with me?

She was right. I was terrified of something. Something in my own mind. Sure, I was scared of the war and of death. These were both why I had been so cold and a bit mean lately. I hadn't been completely happy in a long time. I suppose after a couple hundred years you lose that. You've seen too much, after a while, to be or even act innocent and carefree. But she knew it wasn't just the war. She knew so much, and I'd needed her to tell it to my face before I saw it. I knew now that I was scared, but not the kind of heart racing scared you get from running or being interrogated. It was a cold, painful dread and fear that was always there. That difference was probably why I hadn't seen it at first. But what was it? Why was I scared? I didn't care if Luka liked me. _Like_ liked me, as ten year old-ish as that sounded. It wasn't hard to see that she might. The green haired lump snoring on the bed next to mine obviously thought she did, and Gumi had a habit of being obnoxiously right. And the time when Luka passed out after being tortured...well, it didn't take a genius to know she was going to say she loved me. Why did that put butterflies in my stomach? Besides, all eight of us had said we loved each other countless times. It could mean anything. I knew if she did...love me...it wouldn't be an issue for me. I knew her very well, perhaps better than I knew anyone, and although she acted cold and sometimes flirty on the outside, if she actually loved someone she cared for them with all her heart, and wanted them to be happy more than anything. I loved her for that, even if it wasn't in the way she wanted.

What if it was in the way that she wanted, though? What if I did love her...like, romantically? I took a breath. The fear in the back of my heart that was always there seemed to increase, turning from dread into an urge to run from something I knew couldn't run from. That was it, then. I was scared of being in love with Luka. But why? Perhaps I was just afraid of love. All the things that I was currently terrified of-the war, death-were things I could physically run from, hide from, avoid. Was I that much of a coward? So much that the very thought of something in my head terrified me to death because there was no way of escaping it? I always had been scared of insanity and losing people, anything that affected my mind. I was scared of emotions. I was scared of myself.

I turned again, restless, burying my face in the pillow.

What was it about love that scared me? I'd dated Kaito, of course. Was that love? Maybe not. Or maybe I was scared that I didn't know if I loved her. I was afraid of not knowing. Not knowing if I loved her. Not knowing why I was scared. All those things freaked me out, but they left me more disturbed than afraid. Was it maybe because she was a girl? I didn't think so. In our couple hundred years alive homophobia had become nearly nonexistent in many countries including our own, and the eight of us in particular couldn't care less who liked who. It was certainly different than when I was with Kaito, but still...I imagined it probably played in somewhere, though. I sighed, rolling around again.

Did I really like her? She was nice and amazing and drop dead gorgeous, but I wasn't sure if that mattered. I asked myself a few basic questions that a ten year old would ask at a sleepover.

What happens when you think about her?

Luka. I thought her name and felt butterflies in my stomach.

What if she died?

The very thought scared me. It was almost like what you'd expect a little kid to feel when she thinks about her mom or friends being dead for too long-the knowing that it will eventually happen, and the instinct to stop thinking about it. It felt a bit different, somehow, than the feeling I got when I imagined any of the others dying. Strange.

The number one little kid slumber party question: would you kiss her, if you could?

Yes.

I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them slowly. I supposed I loved her. I really did. Well then. A bit of the fear was replaced with nervousness. What would I do? Did she like me? Maybe. I hoped so.

I sighed again and closed my eyes. Now I knew why it felt different picturing her dying than anyone else. They all knew everything I had to tell them. If she were gone, I had far too many things left unsaid.

"I love you" was among them.

**And there we have it. **_**Finally,**_** although I guess since I had all these chapters pre-written it's been a very short time for all of you. This chapter lacked in dialogue, but I think sometimes I just need to get inside a character's head as an author to explain things I left a bit unexplained. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**IMPORTATNT, PLEASE READ: This was the last chapter that I had pre-written before I started posting this story. I know a lot of people were saying I update fast, but from now on my writing pace will slow down because I will have to be writing and editing every chapter before posting them. Sorry. If it seems like I've stopped, don't worry-I plan to never **_**ever **_**give up on this story. I'll warn you that this is the most boring chapter ever. I don't own Vocaloid. Enjoy!**

"Up and at'm sleepy heads!"

I awoke to Kylie ringing some kind of bell in my face.

"What...the..."

She grinned. "This is what we do to people who sleep too much!"

"Sleep too much? Hardly..." I groaned. At least I'd been plugged in; after the effects of getting up early wore off I'd be as alert as if I'd slept for the whole time I'd been plugged in.

"What? Couldn't sleep?" Gumi asked.

At this point the others had come in, rubbing their eyes and wondering about the bell ringing.

"Nope," I answered.

"Why?" Luka asked.

_Well._

"Thinking," I managed to say. _About you._

"'Bout what?" Rin asked.

"W-well..." I stuttered. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Someone's having sleeping issues lately. Let's go, I'm hungry as hell," Meiko said, walking out of the room.

"Get dressed fast. Breakfast is soon." With that, Kylie left us to get changed. Everyone returned to their rooms. I put on a dark blue tank top, black fingerless gloves, and shorts with black knee socks and boots. I really loved these clothes. I put my hair into pigtails. Gumi had found a black hat with some sort of pins and buttons on it.

"How cool is this?" she asked. She wore shorts and a tee shirt with a gray sweater that went down just longer than her shorts, along with black sneakers. She pulled on the hat and pulled the brim down, looking at me dramatically. I laughed.

"I think everyone's waiting for us," I said.

"Let's go before Meiko eats the whole house," she replied, laughing, and we headed out the door.

Breakfast was eggs and toast and Canadian bacon. Again, it wasn't bad.

"Okay. This is Chou, I think some of you met her," Kylie said to us at the table. "We're each going to take four of you. There are four things we're going to do. Each is an hour long.. After lunch you have school like activities, which takes two hours. Miku, Rin, Gakupo, Meiko, go with Chou."

"But I have to be with my Lennykinz!" Rin exclaimed.

"Alright. Who in my group wants to switch with Rin, or who in Chou's group wants to switch with Len?"

Neither Meiko nor Gakupo seemed to want to.

"Meiko, don't you want to be with Kaito?" I asked. I wasn't trying to convince her, I was honestly curious, but she looked at him like 'oh yeah, you exist' and switched with Len.

"Is everyone okay with their groups?" Chou asked. "We don't care who's with whom."

"We're good," Luka said.

"Yeah," Gakupo agreed.

"Please don't agree with me."

"Yes ma'am."

"Don't say that either..."

"Alright!" Kylie smiled. "Now, if y'all would come with me..." She led her group away.

"What are we doing first?" I asked Chou.  
"We were thinking about spy training first. Figured it'd get you guys interested."  
"Cool," Gakupo said, smirking.

"I'll warn you it's not quite like being a ninja," Chou said, smiling as she led us through twisting hallways down to some random room that we'd get lost in it was so big. It was also set up like a maze. Made of lasers. This looked...interesting. There was a table in the open space near us covered in various types of spy gear.

"Coooooollll..." Rin practically drooled.

"Yeeeeeaaaahhh..." her twin agreed.

"Okay. Thing about spying is that you have to be able to go around and get information and go places without being noticed." She walked around behind me and poked my hair. "This is a bit...noticeable."

"I know," I said.

"Don't worry, not gonna make you cut it off. Though a couple inches would be nice. Maybe a foot. You know, a foot isn't much for you. You either, Gakupo-san. We're going to have to tie your hair up if we ever have to spy..."

"No problem," I said, raising an eyebrow at her hair rant.

"Anyway, we should get started. You have an hour. We're going to see how you get through the maze first."

We took turns going through the maze of lights. Gakupo went first, and of course didn't touch a single laser. I had to take four tries before I got it, the twins three each. Chou then added more red lights and we tried again.

On my turn, I started by stepping over a laser about a foot off the ground. Then I had to walk between two red lines. They got gradually closer together. I turned sideways and got through. I ducked under another, then had to choose a way to go. I turned right and soon reached a wall. Sighing, I turned and made my way back to the intersection, going the other way. I had to step over a laser beam while ducking under another. I stumbled forward, almost hitting the light in front of me, stopping short just in time but losing my balance. My hands landed just on the other side and I hopped my legs over, then stood. I took two steps, ducked, jumped over one, then crawled under the next. I began to stand up when I realized my head was about to hit another one; I leaned forward and pulled up with the beam a dangerous centimeter from my nose. I stepped over a last tripwire and finally I was out.

"Nice," Chou complimented. Of course, the others completed it much faster. "Now, thirty seconds each. You have to finish in thirty seconds. Rin, go!"

She quickly hopped the first obstacle and proceeds to dodge through the lights, occasionally stopping to judge a move. She rolled under one and got up too fast, knocking her head against a light.

"Aww," she said, sighing. On her next try she finished it on time and without failure. Len was next. He hit the same one she had, then finished it the second time.  
Gakupo was third. He ran out of time by going the wrong way, but the next time he quickly maneuvered the maze. Finally, I started. I had to roll instead of crawl, run instead of walk, etc, which was hard. My instinct was to be cautious, and that was the problem. I ran out of time. Next, I managed to finish just on time, with only a few close calls.

"For the sake of time, we're going to move on. Next we have some spy gear that I want to show you guys."

She pulled out four wristwatch-like bands.

"First of all, we had these made for you. Unlike the other things I'm going to show you, these are yours. You get to use them for anything. It's an easy way to communicate with anyone here in our organization. They're also the primary source of communication that you would use at battle and on missions."

"I have a question," Gakupo asked. "I know the idea is for us to stay out of war, so why do we learn all this?"

"We would like to stick it out to the end of the war. We'd like to fight as little as possible. Unfortunately, that's hard to do. We need to all be able to defend ourselves and each other if need be. We need to be able to sneak into war bases and gain information to further stay safe, or perhaps to help end the war without fighting. And in the end, if we're found out or get involved in the war, we need to be able to fight."

"Okay." Gakupo nodded. Chou handed us our wristbands and showed us how to work them. They were all black, but we found there was a setting to change the screen color. I made mine a light teal color. There was a button to call a select person, for which we had to say their name and press it, and one where we could talk to everyone by pressing and holding it.

Chou showed us a variety of tools used to take video, record sound, hear through walls, etc., and demonstrated their uses. Afterward, she sat in a chair with her back turned and we had to get by behind her without her noticing. We got caught-a lot. Eventually it was time to switch to weapons training.

We once again walked to a new room. This one had a wall covered in weapons. Gakupo stared longingly at a katana. There were knives and swords and guns and various other painful looking metal objects.

"Have any of you got any experience in any kinds of weapons?"

"Swords," Gakupo said.

"Throwing knives," Rin grinned.

"When, and where, did you learn how to use knives?" I asked.

"You don't want to know..." Len replied.

"Alright then." Chou smiled. "Weapon training is just for using, well, weapons. Anything else fighting related would be covered in combat or spy training." She walked over to the wall and took out a gun. "I think we'll have to start you on these. It's the one thing that people who aren't complete weapons professionals use in battle and don't die, and really is what everyone uses. We don't know how many lessons you'll get before we're found out." She took out a bullet from a box. "DO NOT TOUCH THESE." She put it back in. "Just saying. Now. Most new models of guns are loaded the same way. There is no need for gunpowder or anything anymore, like there was way, way back when. Now you put in the bullet right here..." she pulled out a bullet and put it in an opening in the top. "Pull back this section, and wait for this blue stripe to light up." She gestured to a stripe on the side which lit in less than a second. "That's literally the energy it takes to shoot this bullet out the front. You can see it. Then..." She aimed the gun for a target on the wall ahead of us. "You pull the trigger." She did so, and shot clean through the bull's eye.

"Cool," Rin said. "Are there any with yellow lights?"  
Chou smiled briefly. "I'm sure if you got your own you could get it custom colored. Ours are all blue."

"Can we try?" I asked. I wasn't really a gun person, but it seemed interesting to learn. Besides, at this point I'd accepted that these people-and now we-were adapting to the war and doing what we had to do. That was that.

"Sure. You're not using bullets at first. These guns here in the weapons training room are set up to gather energy and simulate shooting even without a real bullet."

Len laughed. "Will a little flag that says 'bang' come out the front?"  
"Actually, this one does. I'm really the main gun person here, and this guy John set that up to prank me when I was demonstrating to some newcomers." She pulled out a different gun and shot it. Sure enough, it did just as Len had asked. "The other training guns just let out air."

Even without loading the guns we had to follow safety procedures. One person shooting at once, don't aim it at people, even "everyone else stand behind the yellow line while someone's shooting." Rin went first. She mimed putting an invisible bullet in, then pulled it back and shot.  
"Nice," Chou complimented. I went next, and did the same thing. It felt weird in my hands. Even though I knew there wasn't a bullet in it, it still didn't feel right to be pulling the trigger on an actual gun.

_Stop being silly,_ I thought. I swallowed and shot at the wall. It was way too easy. Not the aim part, of course, but in how it didn't require strength or power. It was practically pushing a button to kill someone. I didn't like that.

I handed the gun to Len. Was it really that easy for him and Rin? They were designed to be a couple years younger than me; even with our almost equally long lives they were still supposed to have around the mental capacity of a fourteen year old human. Their brains were as developed as the brain of a person of that age, except that they knew and had seen far too much. They weren't at all innocent, but they were still fourteen. Could that be why they didn't think about what they were learning to do? I wasn't much older, either way. We had gone through the same things. Either their brains or their personalities made them seem nonchalant about what they were now being trained for.

"Miku..." Gakupo smiled. "Daydreaming? It's your turn again."

I was glad Gumi wasn't here, suddenly, to make some sort of follow up remark. "Oh. Sorry." I took the gun and tried shooting it again. I couldn't really tell if I was making progress, what with the lack of bullets and all.

We each took about three turns before moving on to other weapons. Apparently we'd be using bullets tomorrow. We learned how to hold a sword and a few basic swings and blocking motions, as well as how to move your wrist when throwing a knife and how to stab. We had to wear armor like materials to practice moving in it, including belts with all kinds of pouches filled with equipment, something that felt like a bulletproof vest, and various other pieces of metal on arms and legs and necks that I did not like wearing. It made swinging swords and throwing things difficult.

Afterward we went to the tech center to learn how to work the computers and other devices. As it turned out there was a lot of work to do on a mission from home. For every person out spying there was someone here who always had to be in contact with them and able to easily send out reinforcements if necessary. They had to regulate communication signals, send information to the spy's mobile device, interpret signals, etcetera. It was a bit hard. There were large TV screens that showed live footage from the spy's camera if he or she had one, hooked up to touch screen computer monitors that could control radio transmissions and send things to the spy. We learned how to send files of data to the connected mobile device in a matter of seconds, and how to check a map with the device marked on it. We could type instant messages and tell whoever was assigned for reinforcement to go with the click of a button. In spy training we'd be learning the codes and techniques needed for the job; this was just for working the devices. After this Chou helped us learn all the functions of our new wristbands and how to access them, and told us where alarms were located around the building in case of emergency and how to access them. It only required opening a cover and pressing a hand to the scanner. She showed us a map of the whole computer interface of the building, where computers were located and how to communicate with them. By the end I felt as if my head would explode. I was deemed remarkably bad at machinery for a robot.

Finally, we left all the computers and walked down a flight of stairs to combat training.  
"Is this where we learn how to beat people up?" Rin asked excitedly. I laughed.

"Sort of," Chou answered. "This is where you learn any sort of fighting related activities that don't require weapons. You'll be learning some basic martial arts and fighting techniques, as well as strategies used in war or fighting.

"So if we get, say, attacked or something, we can fight the person off and...not die?" Len asked excitedly.

"I guess you could say that," Chou answered, looking a bit confused. "You say that like you're used to being attacked..." She noticed the boy glaring at his sister. "Ah. Anyway..."

"Yes, they're always like this," I laughed. I was in a good mood, now that we were away from tech training and at the one thing I might not fail at. I was flexible and fast, and I had always proven much better at fighting than people expected.

"Okay." Chou brushed her curly black ponytail over her shoulder. "If you aren't armed or lose your weapons, you have to be able to survive. Rin, try to kick me."

The blond smiled and aimed a not-so-great kick at Chou's stomach, but she dodged to the side, grabbed Rin's leg, and flipped her over.

"Nice try. You have to be able to block or avoid hits and manage to actually hit the other person."

"Okay," Rin said from the floor. She stood up.

"Miku, you wanna try?" Chou asked.

"Sure." I kicked toward her, but she dodged. Before she could do anything I pulled back, making sure she didn't trip me like Rin. She punched at me and I ducked then punched her back. She grabbed my wrist and flipped me over her leg. I hit the ground, but rolled onto my feet again and kicked her lightly in the back.

"Nice," she approved. "Gakupo, your turn."

As fighting was sort of his thing, Gakupo did fairly well. But his training was mainly in weapons, and she soon knocked him over. Len lasted around as long as his sister, managing to pull back from his kick but stumbling a bit, and with a light punch he fell on his back.

We did this for a while, and she showed us how to punch and kick correctly. It was finally something I could do, and I was still in a good mood as we walked to lunch.

"How'd it go for you four?" Meiko asked us, her mouth full of her sandwich, when we sat down at the table with our food.

"Okay, actually," I answered. "How about you?"

"Fine," Luka answered before Meiko could criticize everyone.

"Weeeeelll..." Gumi said. "Not so sure about Meiko, or Kaito, or Luka..."

We laughed. Oh, Gumi.

"I was terrible at technology, though," I said.

"Me too," Gakupo admitted.

"Yeah, but I bet you could do _everything_ else," Kaito said, a bit enviously.

"Yup," Rin confirmed.

After lunch we had the few hours of school Neru had warned us about. The class was made up of us and about ten other people between fourteen and twenty-ish. It wasn't exactly school, but we had to sit and learn about things like math and geography and world history and science in ways that applied to the war, the various things we were being trained in, and survival. We also learned a few words in different languages. We'd be doing specific languages soon. I found it pretty interesting, as did Gumi who had always been a pretty good student. She liked knowing things, probably for her various evil schemes, but she was rather smart. I was fairly certain almost everyone else, besides maybe Len, fell asleep. I sighed. Really, we hadn't been in school since...I didn't even know when. Master programmed some knowledge into us but wanted us to learn, like people could.

Finally, at 4:30, we were let out. A girl named Emma who had a British accent and her American sounding friend, Kayla, sat near us in class and told us that everyone had two hours of free time until dinner at 6:30. We went upstairs and sat in one of the bedrooms.

"How's everybody doing?" Gumi asked. We all said we were fine. It was quiet.

"You'd think we'd have more to talk about. We did just join a secret organization," Meiko said.

"Does anybody else wish that this hadn't happened?" I asked. "I mean, we're supposed to be safe here, but everything we do is preparing for disaster. At the same time, it's what's best for us, but sometimes I wish we were home. I obviously wasn't made for this kind of thing. We were all built to stand in a spotlight and look pretty, and I don't know how long it's going to take to change that."

It was quiet for a moment.

"I know what you mean," Luka said finally. "I wasn't very good at any of that training. Maybe it's because we weren't supposed to be, and it might take even longer for us than for humans to pick up on it."

I sighed. "_You_ weren't very good? I sucked at everything."

Rin smiled. "No, you didn't. If it helps, you totally kicked ass in combat training."

I gave her a halfhearted smile back. "Thanks."

"It's gonna be okay, Miku," Gumi said. "We're all in the same boat here. I get what you mean."

I wanted to say that no, we weren't all in the same boat, that everything else in my very electronic brain was going completely haywire as well, and at the absolute worst time, too, but I just forced my smile to deepen. Maybe, just maybe, she was right-it might turn out okay for all of us.

**Thanks for reading :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi! Sorry it's been a while. I had stuff to do, and some writer's block. That's why this chapter is short. I need to start with a sort of clean slate for next chapter, so I decided I'd end this one then get ideas. This is the first chapter that I actually started writing after I got my fanfiction account! That's why my update rate got slow really fast. The other chapters I had pre-written. Enjoy! I don't own Vocaloid.**

The next day was very similar to the first, and as uneventful as days spent learning to fight can be. The day was more routine and organized than the previous one. In the school period Japanese speaking students worked on learning English, we used bullets in the guns, and I was once again awful at tech and great at combat. In our rest period we hosted makeshift karaoke with the vast majority of the people in the organization with instrumental songs found on YouTube. Hey, secret agents in training need some time to have fun! I slept better that night and the night before than the first, and everyone became much more accustomed to the life of people hiding from the government.

Three weeks passed before we participated in a mission. I was with a girl named Olivia, Chou, and Gakupo on the reinforcement team for Luka, Emma, Neru, and Kylie. We were the better fighters of the eight people on the team; Kylie's group was supposed to go unseen into a building in which we suspected some of Japan's secret war information was. We would go in and beat people up if absolutely necessary. It wasn't the most dangerous plan, as it was in our own country, but they obviously wouldn't want us to have the information. A previous spy for Japan who had joined us gave us the name of a file to steal. If the original team couldn't get it, were caught, or were hurt, they would teleport us in and we'd try to finish for them. Gumi, who had picked up on tech training nicely (it's all those video games, I tell you), was managing the computers with Arisu, Chou's friend we'd met earlier.

My team stood in the back of the computer room. We watched the large screen nervously, waiting for a video image to come up. There was a tiny camera clipped to Emma's headband that could transmit live video to us, and she would be turning it on when they got there. They had teleported in less than five minutes ago.

Finally, a video flickered onto the screen. A sigh of relief ran through the room. Behind strands of Emma's blond hair we could see a dark empty hallway. It wasn't nicely finished; it must have been one of those basement corridors that only janitors and workers go in. I saw Luka, Neru, and Kylie in front of her. They were walking down the hall. Gumi sent the signal that we had video. They walked to a doorway. Here Neru stayed, guarding. She could send them a signal if people were coming. The others kept going, up an unfinished staircase. We looked at the map. They were near the entrance to an air vent that they planned to go through, which led to over the room the file should have been in. It was called file 3, as it was the third and most recent plan the spy agency had made.

Reaching a landing at the top of the staircase, Luka opened the air vent. Kylie and Emma crawled in, Luka staying as another guard. They continued moving until they reached another opening. Emma looked down, and we could see through the camera a room with a desk at it. A few manila folders sat on the table. We had previously gone into the security system and messed with the security cameras-now when they tried to access their videos they would see a cartoon of a giant smiley face sticking out its tongue. The only problem was the man sitting at the desk chair.

Emma's wristwatch came into view as she typed a message. The name in the recipient bar was Luka. We could see what she wrote- 'Go thru vent, turn left. Knock on door 216 and leave.' Looking at the map, I saw the plan: If Luka turned left in the vent instead of going straight she would end up in the hallway outside of the room. She could create a distraction and teleport out.

I held my breath as Luka's dot on the map did as I'd expected and then dropped out of the vent. She went to the room and knocked, then must have teleported, because she appeared in the room with us, breathless from the teleport, a moment later. Through the video we saw the man get up and walk to the door, and Emma hurriedly dropped onto his desk, grabbed the folder labeled 3, and teleported. Soon after, Neru and Kylie appeared in the room with us as well.

We all cheered excitedly. I was secretly glad we hadn't needed to go in; I had been quite nervous.

"Did he see you?" I asked Emma.

"Probably not enough to remember anything. He started to turn when I hit the desk, but I was out of there in less than a second."

"Great job, everyone!" Olivia said.

"It was easy," Neru said in a bored tone.

"You didn't do much," Gakupo reminded her.

"Neither did you."

"No, but we're not saying we did."

"You newbies did great," Kylie said excitedly. "Now, let's have someone look at those files."

She left the room to take them to somebody evidently more trustworthy than "newbies," to find out exactly what we'd just stolen. It was daring for us to have done anything-now Japan would try to figure out who had their important information. However, some people here apparently had suspicions that somebody knew about us. Now that so many Vocaloids had disappeared-the very purpose of the war, gone-they would come searching, and we knew they would find us. We couldn't do much other than sneak around picking up what information we could until they came and we had to run. We could perhaps fight them off, of course, but we were too small an organization. We would die. Or, the humans would die. We'd be captured, dissected, cloned, made invincible, and forced to fight for whoever found us first. What scared everyone the most was how likely it was that someday it would happen. All we could do was try to get stronger.

**Thanks for reading! Suggestions and constructive criticism are always welcome; I'd like to know how I'm doing. Hopefully a longer chapter next time. I'm not very proud of this one, I'm afraid. I got a request for more fluff, and I love writing fluff, so I'm probably going to add some fluff. I just have to balance out the fluffiness…. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello~! I'm sorry, I've been a complete lazy slacker lately, and my rate of updating is in no way excusable. My obsession with Vocaloid has lessened, plus my current favorite pairing from my current obsession involves 2 less girls than this one xD It makes my brain fizzle out when I go from writing those characters to these, and I really feel like this story is going nowhere. I'm going to be very clear-I don't like it. I like writing it, and I'm glad you guys like it, but the plot has backed itself into a corner I can't get it out of. I feel like I'm not doing the best job that I could be with the characters and the story. On a more positive note, my writing has improved from when I first started writing this, so that's good. I will do my best to improve it more. I do not plan to give up on this just yet! I WILL OVERCOME THE WRITER'S BLOCK! *spaz***

** o.O Anywaaaaaaaayyyyyyy….The Vocaloids are not mine. Which is good, because I can't write music to save my life.**

The cold metal pressed into the palm of my hand, my arm aching from holding it up for so long. I stared at the wall ahead of me, the blood red paint marking my target. I took a breath, keeping my aim steady and absorbing the eerie silence of the empty room, every little movement completely inaudible through the thick headphones covering my ears.

I pulled the trigger, shattering the silence like a sheet of ice, the recoil forcing my arm back. With a slight smile, I realized that the bullet had hit the center of the target. Not bad. It was only my third time ever getting a bull's eye. I had never thought I'd see the day when an increase in my ability to kill people was something to be proud of.

I looked down at the gun in my hand. They trusted me now. I knew from the moment Kylie allowed me to practice alone in some of my free time. It was funny, knowing the power I had. I wasn't any good, but there was a weird feeling of strength in the ability to shoot. I didn't like it. I was doing this to protect everyone I loved. But was that even an excuse?

Walking to the wall, I put the gun away, looking at it for a moment. How did they know what I would do? I could shoot myself, for all they knew. I could be dead.

I couldn't say I hadn't considered that idea. If we were dead, this could all end, couldn't it? It was our fault-everything was our fault, and yet we were just a bunch of rich spoiled brats who took too long to learn anything. It wouldn't even be so hard. A bullet to the head, and it wouldn't matter anymore. But that would just be me. There would be so many left. And I couldn't let them die.

Shaking those thoughts out of my head, I hurried out the door, head down. I couldn't let fear or even guilt affect me now. All that mattered was keeping my friends alive, myself too if I could.

I caught up to Luka and Meiko in the hallway, where they stood talking about something I didn't quite hear.

"Hi," I said halfheartedly, faking a bit of a smile.

"Where were you?" Luka asked. "We didn't see you leave breakfast, you just disappeared."

"Just practicing some stuff," I said, avoiding the question.

"You're such a good little student," Meiko laughed. They could be so carefree, compared to me. Or…or they were all faking it too. It was so surprising what war could do to people, previously so happy all the time. Where had those times gone? When had my life become a tangle of fear and survival and too many emotions to handle? But there I was being selfish again. I had to let that go.

"Have you two heard anything about that file we stole?" I asked, distracting myself with important things. It was really all that was worth talking about now; worrying and moping would get us nowhere.

Luka shook her head. "I heard that it was top secret. They're still deliberating over it. I don't really know how much they trust us-or anyone, for that matter."

"That's understandable," Meiko said. A mischievous grin spread across her face. "Who knows what we might do? We could be using this innocent face to get on the inside and then kill everyone!" She patted me on the head on the word innocent, and I laughed.

"Yes, she's very cute," Luka winked teasingly at me. I blushed. Damn blushing. Of all the human functions Master could have easily left out…

"Meiko?" Kaito's voice called. He turned the corner and walked up to us. "Gakupo has decided that the two of us together couldn't beat him in a sword match."

"Well," she said, cracking her knuckles with a laugh. "Can't let him think that, now, can we?"

She followed him in the direction from which he had come, saying something about how much he sucked with a sword and how she would be doing all the fighting for him. He glared at her.

"Quit flirting!" Luka called down the hallway after them.

Meiko laughed, shaking her fist at us jokingly. "You ladies have fun without me!" she shouted, running away before we could respond. I blushed.

"What were you actually doing down there?" Luka asked after a moment.

"Shooting practice. I've been doing much better!" I said cheerfully. Luka wasn't smiling.

"You've been working so much harder than anyone else, Miku. Sometimes it seems like you're avoiding us."

It was true that I rarely trained with anyone else. I was always running from place to place, trying and failing to keep my mind off of things. I didn't want them to see that I was falling apart. I didn't want them to worry. Luka had already noticed which smiles were fake, and she wouldn't forget it. I didn't want the rest of them to share my pain. I wanted them to think I was fine-happy little Miku, always smiling, until the very end.

But at the same time, I needed someone. I needed to be able to tell at least one person that I wasn't okay. I wanted to matter to someone, not as a cute little girl who would always be happy, but as someone who could feel and live and share everyone's pain. I wanted to talk to just one person about everything that hurt and was just so _wrong _with our lives now. But I was too shy to do that, too nice to drag someone else's attention to me. Complaining would do nothing, but without it no one would know how I felt. There had to be someone I could trust, and who could trust me.And I knew who I wanted that to be.

"I…I kinda want to talk to you," I said quietly, nervously fidgeting and looking at my shoes.

"Sure," she said. "What's up?"

And so I told her everything-or, almost everything-all the little fears and uncertainties, even the thought that maybe I should just die.

"But that wouldn't be best for us," she said. "We wouldn't be any safer if you died. You're really famous, but they know we exist. You can't just try to run away from things, Miku. You'd only leave us with one less fighter and a lot of broken hearts." She sighed. "I would yell at you for thinking this. But I know you wouldn't do it."

"Why, because I'm an innocent little selfish kid?"

"No," she answered. "If you killed yourself, that would be selfish. It would be like running away."

"I think we're talking about two different reasons. I don't want to run away. I just want you guys to be safe. It's not the same as being suicidal or depressed. I don't want to die, trust me I don't. It's being scared for you."

"I know. But you can't end the war with one bullet." She sighed. "Miku, you put everything else in the world too far before your own life. It's kind, but…I'd be careful if I were you."

"Luka?" I asked after a moment. "Who would really be that heartbroken if I died?" _Who even really knows me?_

She sighed, her eyes sad.

"I would."

**Okay. I know no plot points went anywhere in this chapter, and I'm sorry. I also know there was no fluff. This story is running out of room for happy, but there will be some. I just felt like before Miku went making any sort of love confession, I really had to work on her relationship with Luka. As you've very well noticed (and as I'm afraid I've been mentioning too much), my version of Miku for this story struggles a lot with her reputation with the world and herself. She is very much like a human teenage girl thrown into a terrible situation; I only hope I'm portraying this realistically. I felt that before she began to drop her façade and talk to someone, the story and her feelings for Luka couldn't go anywhere. Miku has to a) overcome her internal struggle before she will be able to be a valuable part of the organization, and b) be honest with Luka before any form of romance can be even considered. I feel this relationship she is forming with her is the only reasonable way to make these things happen, and thus this chapter is paving the way for many chapters to follow. So while it may seem like nothing has happened between last chapter and this, I really felt that this was actually a necessary chapter. I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT WRITING FOR SO LONG.**


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